Photosynthesis and Fish Production in the Seahttp://www.icess.ucsb.edu/~davey/Geog158/Readings/RytherScience1969.pdf

The production of organic matter and its conversion to higher forms of life vary throughout the world ocean.

John H. RytherScience, VOL. 166, 3 October 1969

The result has been modification of the estimate of primary production in theworld ocean from 1.2 to 1.5 x 10 * 10 tons of carbon fixed per year (5) to a newfigure, 1.5 to 1.8 x 10 * 10 tons (18 billion tons).

Attempts have also been made by Steemann Nielsen and Jensen (5), Ryther (8), and Koblentz-Mishke et al. (7) to assign specific levels or ranges of productivity to different parts of the ocean. Although the approach was somewhat different in each case, in general the agreement between the three was good and, with appropriate condensation and combination, permit the following conclusions.

1) Annual primary production in the open sea varies, for the most part, between25 and 75 grams of carbon fixed per square meter and averages about 50 grams of carbon per square meter per year. This is true for roughly 90 percent of the ocean, an area of 326 x 106 square kilometers.